


ever to be kept hereafter

by anabel



Category: 17th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF, Stuart Dynasty RPF
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Extra Treat, James gets what James wants, M/M, Pillow Talk, Post-Coital Cuddling, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-26 12:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12557516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anabel/pseuds/anabel
Summary: James will not let the past repeat itself.





	ever to be kept hereafter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Verabird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verabird/gifts).



“Should we be more cautious, sire?”

His George is lying in the king’s embrace, his head pillowed lazily on the king’s royal thigh. They are alone, warm and cocooned from the world outside; there are not even any courtiers stationed outside the doors, to rush in at any sound from their liege that might be a cry of pain, since James had the excellent idea to build a secret passage between their chambers. Together they recline in George’s bed, and James strokes George’s hair, and is content.

“Cautious, my sweet?” he asks, his voice a laugh. What they have done over the past hour can scarce be called cautious, in any language spoken by man.

“Your lords do not like me,” George says, his frank candour as ever part of his charm. “No more than I like them! But I am one man, and cannot injure them. They are many, and they will try to turn you from me any way they can.”

James frowns. Well he knows this, for did not his Scottish lords drive away his first love, the gentle Esmé? They had dared to lay hands on their king and imprison him, demanding that he banish Esmé; even though he had been only sixteen, newly come to manhood, he had resisted them for nearly a year before giving way. Esmé lived only a year more in French exile.

But Esmé’s fate will not be George’s. James is no longer a youth, and he will have his desires, and woe betide those who seek to prevent him. “Let them assay it,” he says. There is something cold in his voice, striking in this soft haven. “If they would stick their necks into the hangman’s noose, let them come! They will pull back anon, or I shall not stay my hand.”

George turns his head so that James can see his much-loved features, the flash of his eyes in the candlelight and the lock of hair falling across his handsome brow. “Lovest thou me so much?”

For answer, James cups George’s cheek in his hand. George’s eyes flutter shut, the sweep of his eyelashes fair indeed. “Canst thou doubt it?”

George’s eyes open again. “No,” he says, simple.

James is no fool. He has been a king since infancy, and he has known flatterers and liars, pious fools and evil schemers, evil fools and pious schemers. His mother killed his father. His cousin killed his mother. His ancestors were often assassinated by their own lords, and a similar fate may befall James himself, for a king’s life is never secure. From a lifetime of experience, James trusts no man or woman alive. 

But here in this room, with George in his arms, he comes as near it as he ever does.

*~*

The next afternoon, when they meet by chance in the throne room, James reaches out and seizes George’s arm. 

There is a curious susurrus from the courtiers waiting to speak to their king, but James ignores them, and deliberately leans in to kiss his George, for all eyes to see. 

George is wide-eyed when James steps back again.

“Well met, my dear Buckingham,” James says, loudly, as if kissing his nobles is most usual. And indeed it is, if the king does it. For the king is God’s Anointed, and if the Almighty was angry with His Anointed, He would have rained down fire on James’s head long since. Elsewise, James is King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and those who would intrigue against George shall answer to the man who loves him.

“Let them come,” he adds, more quietly, so that only he and George hear the words.

“Well met, sire,” George says, and there are roses in his cheeks underneath his beard.

*~*

**Author's Note:**

> Though there was much dissatisfaction with the role the Duke of Buckingham played in James's court during the final years of his reign, and at least one serious conspiracy against him, none was able to dislodge or destroy him while James lived. When James died in 1625, George was at his bedside holding his hand.
> 
> Other assorted notes:  
> \- James was indeed a strong believer in divine-right kingship.  
> \- James and George did kiss in public. A contemporary, Francis Osborne, recorded in his memoirs James's "lascivious mode" for public kissing (and how it led everyone to imagine how much further the king might go in private).  
> \- James was also obvious in public in other ways; in addition to the famous Privy Council declaration, he also composed verses in praise of Buckingham and read them aloud at a public banquet, which caused some consternation. James gaveth no fucks.  
> \- The title comes from one of James's love letters to George.


End file.
